The Man Who Would Save The Colts – Andrew Luck

Quarterback Andrew Luck is within hours of reporting to training camp along with his Colts teammates. It has been an eventful spring, which started with the Combines and ends this week with some practice before reporting to Anderson University on Saturday.

Luck is anticipating the next step of his career.

The focus on him, as it was in college, has been a little different than it has been for others. The first pick of the 2012 draft has handled it adeptly, and he has worked his way to within a few hours of the opening of training camp.

Luck is signed, sealed and delivered – and ready for action.

“It’s nice to officially be a Colt and get ready to gear up for training camp,” said Luck in his first comments this week. Since being away from the Indiana Farm Bureau Football Center for about a month, he has completed his contract matters and found time to work with a handful of teammates.

With all that has gone on in Luck’s world, he notices the support around him. He also recognizes his top priority.

“I feel very blessed to be surrounded by great people – parents, (my) agent, the whole agency,” said Luck. “Everybody in the Colts’ organization has gone out of their way to help me in any situation that may arise. Just not losing focus, it’s football that matters at the end of the day. That’s the main goal.”

Focus, it seems, never has been an issue for Luck. After passing for more than 7,000 yards and 50 touchdowns in ranking as one of the nation’s top prospects at Houston’s Stratford High School, Luck embarked on Stanford career where he posted a 31-7 starting record and directed the school to 8-5, 12-1 and 11-2 records after the Cardinal had posted seven consecutive losing seasons. He topped 9,000 passing yards and 80 touchdowns in emerging as the top prospect in the draft.

Though academic commitments kept him from participating in a number of spring practices with Indianapolis, Luck toiled with the Colts rookies in early May and in a full-squad mini-camp in mid-June. He worked off the field in learning the playbook so his time with teammates on it met or exceeded the physical and mental pace.

“I wish I could have been out here more and gotten in all those other practices,” said Luck. “I tried to stay somewhat on top of things as much as I could so I could come back in and not make a fool of myself in front of the vets and other rookies. I don’t know if it went as smooth as I would like. I was just happy to get in as many practices as I could.”

Luck directed an attack at Stanford that functioned at a high level, and now he should direct an offense with the Colts that have the same aggressive nature. While adapting to a different level of play, Luck notes some basic similarities between his old and new playing environments.

“There are only so many routes in football, so many schemes. It’s different languages completely between the two offenses. You find common ground,” said Luck. “You say, ‘This at Stanford is now called this (here).’ Playing the matching game is something.”

While Colts fans have not had many chances to lay eyes on Luck as he practices, one who person who had that chance daily for the past few years was Stanford assistant coach David Shaw. Luck impressed Shaw on a repetitive basis.

“He’s like a vitamin – once a day he does something that just makes you say, ‘Wow!’ And it’s been once a day for four years,” said Shaw of Luck last year. “Every single day he makes a throw that you just go, ‘Wow’ and move on to the next play. You look at film that night and he’s moving to his left, throwing 30 yards across his body. It’s just stuff that other human beings can’t do. He just does it and comes back to the huddle and says, ‘What’s the next play?’ ”

Luck will be under the tutelage of Colts Offensive Coordinator Bruce Arians. Arians was the Indianapolis Quarterback Coach from 1998-2000, the first three years of the Peyton Manning era. He worked with Tim Couch in Cleveland before moving to Pittsburgh in 2004, where he eventually served as coordinator for Ben Roethlisberger and the Steelers’ offense.

103GBF is once again your home for Indianapolis Colts Football. The first pre-season game happens on Sunday August 18th vs. The St. Louis Rams. Pre game start is set for 11:30.

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